Bayview Elementary School, West Islip NY

Original Research by School Decision on Bayview Elementary School

Bayview Elementary is a small public school in West Islip serving about four hundred students in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. West Islip is a car-dependent residential suburb on Long Island's South Shore, built out as single-family homes and commercial strips along Montauk Highway rather than around a walkable downtown. The area is anchored by Good Samaritan University Hospital and accessible via the Babylon LIRR Station, just over a mile away. Housing values reflect the area's suburban character and proximity to the bay; median home prices in the zip code sit well above the national benchmark.

The school draws from a student population that is predominantly white, with a modest free-or-reduced-price lunch rate of about one in ten students. Recent state test results show mixed performance across grades three through five. In third-grade math, proficiency was strong, while fourth and fifth grades show steeper declines, with only about half of fourth graders and less than half of fifth graders meeting proficiency. English language arts follows a similar pattern: third-grade proficiency was solid, but fourth grade drops significantly, and fifth-grade results remain below the third-grade mark. In fifth-grade science, fewer than half the tested students were proficient. A parent may want to look into the specific instructional approaches in place, particularly around grades four and five, to understand what accounts for the performance drop as students progress through the school.

When compared across Suffolk County's seventy-four districts, Bayview's overall proficiency index sits above the county's midpoint, a positioning that reflects the strength of third-grade results pulling against weaker performance in the upper grades. The test data shows participation rates in the low-to-mid ranges, which is worth clarifying with the school directly.

The school operates within the West Islip Union Free School District. The district has restructured its pre-kindergarten program beginning in 2025-2026, now hosted at an external children's center with enrollment capped by state grant funding. Because demand exceeds available seats, placement is determined by lottery, meaning families are not guaranteed admission—a concrete consideration for parents of younger children. The district has sustained a consistent property-tax approach for over a decade, staying within state levy caps and using a voter-backed capital reserve to fund facility projects without borrowing, which has held overall tax increases modest.

Enrollment information indicates the school serves students across its grade bands, with larger cohorts in pre-K and kindergarten, stepping down through the elementary grades. Civil-rights data, specific staffing details, course or enrichment offerings, and attendance trends were not available in the data provided, so a parent should contact the school directly to learn about academic supports, intervention programs, special education services, and the range of activities and learning experiences available.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 368%

School 68% · District 65% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

Grade 452%

School 52% · District 58% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 7 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Grade 545%

School 45% · District 39% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 375%

School 75% · District 60% · ▲ 15 pts above district

▲ 23 pts above state median · ▲ 28 pts above county median

Grade 431%

School 31% · District 41% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 19 pts below county median

Grade 548%

School 48% · District 45% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▼ 7 pts below state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

Science

Grade 543%

School 43% · District 45% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 599%

School 99% · district not reported

▲ 7 pts above state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

This schoolWEST ISLIP UNION FREE SCHOOL DISTRICT, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 4Lower-income40%Higher-income30%10 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income20%Higher-income51%31 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 4Lower-income60%Higher-income50%10 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income20%Higher-income49%29 pp gap